When an emergency strikes, response times are extremely important — which is why you need to make sure you have the right people involved from the start. Once you have notified your people of the crisis and mobilized your resources — it’s just as important to collaborate to discuss the next steps of the crisis management plan with your team during the first moments of an emergency.

Proper disaster and crisis preparedness is about much more than giving your organization and emergency officials the tools they need to successfully handle an emergency. It’s about ensuring that you have as much prepared ahead of time so that when an emergency does happen, you know what actions need to be taken, notifications need to be sent out, and what guidance should be provided. Although often assumed, having the procedures and means to instantly contact the police and local EMS is an important part of the preparation process. Developing relationships with local first responders and including them in the development and exercise of your emergency response and action plan is a most important step in preparedness.

It’s that time of the year again when universities, colleges, and K-12 schools open up their doors for their students and staff. With students coming back, the safety of everyone on campus is a big issue. Emergency communication is more important than ever on any campus. The goal of any organization is to ensure that your mass notification reaches every person through multiple routes. This is especially important when there are children or students involved. There’s never a 100% chance that someone has their mobile phone on them at all times, so you must use other methods to reach your people. In the world of IoT, this multimodal approach is increasingly easy to implement and initiate.

Safety isn’t simply a state of being. Safety is a way of life and a goal that each of us strives to reach. Not only for us, but also for our families, schools, and the organizations we work. To be legally compliant, organizations must create an emergency response and action plan for their organization. It is their responsibility to be prepared for emergency scenarios that could possibly happen to their organization - and notify their constituents. In this day, we all expect to be notified should an emergency occur.

After an active shooter incident occurs, much of the tough work is still left to be completed. An incident like this has most likely affected the entire community, and it will likely take the entire community to recover. Recovery might include hospitals, grief counselors, employee assistance, and more.

In 2008, colleges were still scrambling to acquire an Emergency Notification System (ENS) to send mass text messages to their students. It was just over a year from the horrific Virginia Tech massacre that refocused the world’s priorities on the importance of campus safety and taking proactive measures to prevent a recurrence - on any campus.